VonArx	Hope

Week of Nov. 30-Dec. 6: Women - Laura VonArx, Northwest Nazarene (Jr., Hermiston, OR) posted a provisional NCAA Division II national qualifying mark in the triple jump as the Crusaders opened the 2009-10 indoor track season Saturday competing in the Jackson's Open at Nampa. VonArx placed third with a personal best leap of 37-9. That mark is the third longest indoor triple jump in GNAC history. She also finished second in the pentathlon with 2,726 points. Men - Maurus Hope, Northwest Nazarene (So., Adrian, OR) posted times of 7.20 in the 60 meters and 22.13 in the 200 in the Jackson's Open. His 60 time was .32 seconds off the provision national qualifying mark and is 200 time was .33 seconds slower than the national PNQ. He won the latter event.

Week of Dec. 7-13: Male - Brandon Pearce, Montana State Billings (Fr., Billings, MT) earned a GNAC automatic qualifying mark for the 60 meters and a provisional mark for the 200 as the Yellowjackets finished fourth in the Chadron State Shootout. Pearce's time of 6.65 in the 55 (converted to 7.14) betters the 60 automatic standard of 7.16. His 200 time of 23.23, is .09 seconds better than the provisional standard. Pearce's marks were among 10 provisional marks for MSUB in the meet. Female - None selected.

Week of Jan. 11-17: Male - Chad Meis, Seattle Pacific (Sr., Renton - Seattle Christian) posted a provisional national qualifying time in the mile at the UW Indoor Preview Saturday in the Dempsey Indoor. Meis was time in a school-record time of 4:11.39, moving into third place on the GNAC's all-time Top 10 Indoor List. Female - The Seattle Pacific Medley Relay team of Jane Larson (Sr., Fall City, WA - Cedar Park Christian), Crystal Sims (Jr., Portland, OR - Jefferson), Lisa Anderberg (Sr., Edmonds, WA - Kamiak) and Jessica Pixler (Sr., Sammamish, WA - Eastlake) chopped 6.01 seconds off the GNAC and SPU school record in winning the distance medley relay in an automatic national qualifying time of 11:32.23. That time would have placed second at last year's national meet.

Week of Jan. 18-24: Male - None selected. Female - Erika Halle, Montana State Billings (So., Manhattan, MT - Manhattan Christian) finished second in the 200 in an open indoor track and field meet at Montana State Friday posting a GNAC season-best time of 26.22. On the season, Halle ranks fifth in the conference in the long jump with a best of 16-7 and eighth in the 60 hurdles with a best of 9.96 (converted from a 55 hurdles time of 9.37).

Brown	Fischer	Pixler

Week of Jan. 25-31: Male - Ryan Brown, Western Washington (Jr., Bellingham, WA – Squalicum) and Tyler Fischer, Central Washington (Sr., Cashmere, WA). . .Brown set school and conference records and posted an automatic national qualifying mark in the pole vault in the UW Invitational Indoor track and field meet. Brown obliterated the old conference record winning the event with a mark of 17-1 ½. That was nearly seven inches better the NCAA Division II national automatic qualifying standard, and broke his own WWU and GNAC record of 16-6 set last year. He is the first GNAC athlete to clear 17 feet either indoor or outdoor. The outdoor record is 16-8 ¾ by Justin Miller of Humboldt State (2002). Brown’s mark currently ranks No. 1 nationally. . .Fischer finished sixth in the men’s weight throw with a provisional national qualifying toss of 58-4 ½. That mark ranks third in GNAC history. Female - Jessica Pixler, Seattle Pacific (Sr., Sammamish, WA - Eastlake) shattered her own Seattle Pacific and GNAC mark in the mile by more than four seconds cruising around the Dempsey Indoor oval in 4 minutes, 33.46 seconds on the way to an 11-second victory. Pixler's time beat the 4:37.83 she ran last Feb.14 in the Husky Classic. After battling an illness for the past two weeks, Pixler wasn't even sure she was going to run until she got up on Saturday morning. Not only did she run and set the school and GNAC records, the three-time defending D-2 indoor mile champion beat the NCAA Division II automatic qualifying standard of 4:54.00 by more than 20 seconds.

Wright

Week of Feb. 1-7: Male - Anthony Wright, Central Washington (Fr., Lakewood, WA - Lakes) won the 60 meters Saturday in the Runner's Soul Invitational at Moscow in a time of 6.96 after finishing second Friday in the Vandal Indoor in a time of 6.90, the second quickest in GNAC indoor history. Female - Katharine Lotze, Central Washington (Fr., Benton City - Kiona-Benton) and Terra Schumacher, Seattle Pacific (Jr., Sublimity, OR - Regis & MHCC). . .Lotze posted a provisional national qualifying mark in the women's triple jump at the Vandal Indoor in Moscow. Lotze had the sixth-best mark in GNAC history in posting a PNQ of 37-4 1/2. She finished third in the meet. Schumacher won the pole vault at the Portland Pilot Indoor with a provisional national qualifying vault of 11-6. That is the best mark in the conference this winter.

Tomsich	Warman

Week of Feb. 8-14: Male - Anthony Tomsich, Western Washington (Sr., Fairbanks, AK - West Valley) set school and GNAC records in the mile at the University of Washington Indoor Husky Classic Saturday at the Dempsey Indoor. Tomsich placed eighth in a time of 4:07.06, breaking the old GNAC record of 4:09.71 set by Nathan Carlson of Saint Martin's in 2005. He bettered the old WWU school record by six seconds. Female - Emily Warman, Western Washington (So., Sedro-Woolley, WA) established provisional national qualifying marks in both the long jump and triple jump in two separate meets at the University of Washington. On Saturday, she placed 13 th in the triple jump in the Husky Classic with a leap of 38-7. Warman is the defending NCAA Division II national champion, winning the event in 2009 with a GNAC-record mark of 39-3. On Sunday, she won the long jump at the UW Open with a provisional national qualifying mark of 18-9 ¾. Both her long jump and triple jump marks are the best in the conference this winter. Her LJ mark was just one-quarter inch short of her career-best, which ranks second in GNAC history.

Week of Feb. 22-28: Male - Matson Hardie, Western Oregon (Fr., Bend, OR) won both the triple jump and long jump in the Seattle Pacific Last-Chance Invitational with leaps of 47-11 ¾ and 22-6, respectively. He added 7 ½ inches to his previous provisional national qualifying mark in the triple jump recording the second longest leap in GNAC history. Female - Michelle Howe, Western Washington (Jr., Lakewood, WA) and Torrie Self, Central Washington (Jr., Kent, WA). . .Howe shaved .11 seconds off her provisional national qualifying time in winning the 60 hurdles in a time of 8.89 at the Seattle Pacific Last-Chance Invitational. Her time ranks second in GNAC history. She also ran on WWU's 4x400 relay team that was clocked in a GNAC-record time of 3:50.80, chopping 1.3 seconds off its previous provisional national qualifying time. . .Self won both the shot put (41-9 ¼) and weight throw (54-4) in the meet. Her weight throw met the provisional national standard and is the second longest in GNAC history.

Hewitt	Alvarez

Week of Mar. 1-7: Male - Ethan Hewitt, Alaska Anchorage (Fr., Eagle River, AK - Chugiak) set a GNAC record in winning the men's 400 meters in a time of 47.97 in the UNLV Track and Field Classic in Las Vegas Saturday. In his collegiate debut, Hewitt broke the old GNAC record of 48.11 set by Western Oregon's Ashtin Mott two years ago. Female - Amanda Alvarez, Seattle Pacific (Fr., Vancouver, WA - Columbia River) won the triple jump at the University of Puget Sound Invitational with a national provisional mark of 39-0 ¼. Alvarez's triple jump mark ranks second in GNAC history trailing only Alaska Anchorage's Kim Brady who went 39-3 3/4 in 2008.

Preston	Kipng'eno

Week of Mar. 8-14: Male - Demietrius Preston, UAA (Jr., Anchorage, AK - Service) won the long jump at the Northridge Invitational with a career-best leap of 24-6 ¼. Only two athletes have a better long jump in conference history. He also finished seventh in the 200 meters at Northridge with a GNAC season-best time of 22.17. Female - Miriam Kipng'eno, UAA (So., Eldoret, Kenya) won the 5,000 meters at the Occidental Distance Carnival in Los Angeles, becoming the fifth runner in GNAC history to run faster than 17 minutes. Her time of 16:59.24, which bettered the provisional national standard by more than 33 seconds, ranks fourth in conference history.

Wright	Larson

Week of Mar. 15-21: Men - Anthony Wright, Central Washington (Fr., Lakewood, WA - Lakes) grabbed the conference early-season lead in winning the 100 meters at the Oregon Preview in a time of 10.75. His time also moved him into a tie for fourth on the all-time conference 100-meter chart. He also led CWU to a GNAC season-best time of 42.15 and a second-place finish in the 4x100 relay. Wright's win in the 100 was one of just three for GNAC athletes at Eugene. Female - Jane Larson, Seattle Pacific (Sr., Fall City, WA - Cedar Park Christian) finished third in the women's 800 at the Oregon Preview in a provisional national qualifying time of 2:11.75. Her time, which ranks eighth in GNAC history, was only 1.75 seconds off the Division II national automatic qualifying standard. Larson is already a two-time All-American this year, finishing third in the mile and running on SPU's national championship distance medley relay team at the NCAA Division II Indoor national meet.

Chelimo	Pixler

Week of Mar. 22-28: Men – Micah Chelimo, Alaska Anchorage (Fr., Kapkoi, Kenya – Tambach) ran the first sub nine-minute steeplechase in the GNAC in eight years in the Stanford Invitational. Chelimo was clocked in an automatic national qualifying time of 8:58.79, just .17 seconds off the conference record of 8:58.62 set by Jason Walker of Humboldt State during the conference's inaugural season in 2002. Female – Jessica Pixler, Seattle Pacific (Sr., Sammamish, WA – Eastlake) ran the fastest 5,000 by an American this year in winning the event at the Stanford Invitational Friday. Pixler was timed in 15:44.07, which ranks fifth in the world in 2010 trailing only a 15:27.75 by Mary Teresa Cullen of Ireland and three Australians. She was competing in her first-ever outdoor 5,000 during her career at SPU though she did win the NCAA Division II Indoor national title at that distance last year. Pixler smashed both the previous SPU and GNAC records bettering the Falcon school record by 32.05 seconds and the previous conference record by more than a minute (1:06.80).

Cheseto	Olsen

Week of Mar. 29-Apr. 4: Male – Marko Cheseto, Alaska Anchorage (Jr., Kapenguria, Kenya) won the men's 10,000 meters in a NCAA Division II provisional national qualifying mark of 29:41.86 at the Willamette Invitational track and field meet. Cheseto, who set the GNAC record of 29:08.28 last season, missed the automatic standard by just 1.86 seconds. Female – Courtney Olsen, Western Washington (Sr., Bellingham, WA - Squalicum) broke her own school record in winning the women's 3000-meter steeplechase in a provisional national qualifying time of 11:01.33 at the 25th annual University of Puget Sound J.D. Shotwell Track & Field Invitational at Baker Stadium. Olsen cut nearly 27 seconds off her own school record in the steeple, bettering the national standard by 18 1/2 seconds. She ranks second in the conference this spring and her mark ranks seventh all-time in the GNAC.

Elder	Wilson	Powers

Week of Apr. 5-11: Male – Ben Elder, Western Washington (Jr., Lake Stevens, WA) and Nick Wilson, Montana State Billings (Fr., Laurel, MT). . .Elder won both the discus (161-2) and shot put (52-1 ¼) with GNAC season-best marks in the 29 th annual Ralph Vernacchia Invitational Track and Field meet Friday at Bellingham's Civic Stadium. He broke one of the Vikings' oldest school standards in the discus eclipsing the mark of 161-2 set by Martin Rudy in 1980. Both his discus and shot put distances rank fourth in GNAC history. His discus mark bettered the NCAA Division II national standard by 8 feet, three inches. He missed the shot NCAA PNQ by three-quarters off an inch. . .Wilson posted a NCAA Division II automatic national qualifying mark in the javelin Saturday at the Montana State Open at Bozeman. Wilson added nearly 12 feet to his previous provisional national qualifying mark with a throw of 208 feet, nine inches. That is the third longest in GNAC history. He is just the seventh GNAC athlete to better 200 feet in the event. Female – Carolanne Powers, Western Oregon (Fr., Keizer, OR – McNary) won the javelin in the John Knight Twilight meet at Monmouth with a NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 154-0. She added 15 feet, 9 inches to her previous provisional national qualifying mark in posting the fourth best throw in conference history.

Chelimi	Slowey	Pixler

Week of April 12-18: Male – Micah Chelimo, Alaska Anchorage (Fr., Kapkoi, Kenya) and Jason Slowey, Western Oregon (So., Medford, OR – North Medford). . . Chelimo shattered the GNAC record in the men's steeplechase Thursday at the Mount Sac Relays. Chelimo, who already had a NCAA automatic time, cut nearly 10 seconds off his AQ and the GNAC record of 8:58.62 set by Jason Walker of Humboldt State in 2002 in finishing second in the Olympic Development division with a time of 8:49.31. Slowey earned two provisional national qualifying marks at the Beach Invitational Saturday at Long Beach. He placed sixth in the discus with a throw of 162-2 and was seventh in the shot with a GNAC season-best put of 52-3 ¾. That mark ranks fourth in GNAC history. Female – Jessica Pixler, Seattle Pacific (Sr., Sammamish, WA – Eastlake) broke two long-time school records. On Friday, she broke a 22-year-old record in finishing second in the 1500 meters at the Mt. Sac Relays. Her time of 4:11.06 was the fourth best in the world this year. Then on Saturday, she eclipsed a 33-year-old school mark in the 800 at the Beach Invitational in Long Beach with a time of 2:04.89. Both marks are automatic national qualifying times.

Hoffman	Self

Week of Apr. 19-25: Male – Michael Hoffman, Western Washington (So., Bellingham, WA – Sehome) improved on two provisional national qualifying marks in winning both the hammer (194-9) and discus (163-8) in the Western Washington Twilight Invitational. His hammer throw was a 9 ½ foot improvement and was a school record. It was also the second longest hammer toss in GNAC history. He added three inches to both his PNQ and his No. 6 GNAC all-time ranking in the discus. Female – Torrie Self, Central Washington (Jr., Kent, WA – Kent-Meridian) automatically qualified for the NCAA national meet in the hammer with a throw of 179-4. That mark was an 8 ½ foot improvement on her previous PNQ and is the third longest in conference history.

Hope	Porter

Week of Apr. 26-May 2: Male – Maurus Hope, Northwest Nazarene (So., Adrian, OR) finished second in the 400 hurdles in a GNAC season-best time of 53.20 at the Idaho/Utah Border Clash in Boise. Hope chopped 1.17 seconds off his previous GNAC leading mark and bettered the provisional national standard by .80 seconds. His time is the seventh best in conference history. Female – Sarah Porter, Western Washington (Jr., Hockinson, WA) qualified for the USA Track & Field Championships by placing 15th in the 10,000 meters with a GNAC record time of 33:36.83 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational. Porter's time was nearly nine seconds better than the “A” qualifying standard for the USA meet June 23-27 at Des Moines, Iowa. The clocking also bettered her personal best by almost 54 seconds and was 32 seconds faster than the GNAC record of 34:08.64 set by Karen Dickson of Seattle Pacific in 2005.

Brown	Sims

Week of May 3-9: Male – Ryan Brown, Western Washington (Jr., Bellingham, WA – Squalicum) broke his own school and GNAC record tying for first place in the pole vault by clearing 17-7 at the UW Ken Shannon Track and Field Invitational. Brown now ranks 14th among all collegians this spring, first among Division II athletes. Brown surpassed his previous best effort of 16-10 ¾ by 8 ¼ inches. His best effort this spring is 2 ½ feet better than the second-best mark in the conference. Brown won the NCAA II national indoor championship in March after becoming the first GNAC athlete to clear 17 feet in either indoor or outdoor competition with a season-best of 17-1 ½ at the UW Indoor meet Jan. 30.  Female – Crystal Sims, Seattle Pacific (Jr., Portland, OR – Jefferson) won the heptathlon title at the GNAC Multi-Events championships adding 263 points to her previous provisional national qualifying score. Her point total of 4,769 points is the eighth highest in conference history. She dominated the event, finishing first among the 15 competitors in four of the seven events including the 200, 100 hurdles, long jump and shot put.

Wright	Essien

Week of May 10-16: Men – Anthony Wright, Central Washington (Fr., Lakewood, WA) had the best performance by a sprinter in GNAC history and arguably one of the best overall performances by any GNAC athlete in championship meet history. He accounted for two conference records, three meet records and three provisional national qualifying times in events in which GNAC athletes have seldom met the standard. Wright won the 100 in a time of 10.43, breaking the conference and meet record of 10.51 set by Mike Hinshaw in 2003. He then added a win in the 200 in a meet-record time of 21.36, moving into second-place on the GNAC all-time list. He also led CWU to a meet and conference record in the 4x100 relay in a time of 41.10. He then capped off his day running a 49 second leg in leading CWU to a third-place finish in the 4x400 relay. Wright is just the second athlete in GNAC history to post a PNQ in the 100 and the third to accomplish that feat in the 200 in the nine-year history of the conference. CWU is also the first GNAC team to ever meet the standard in the 4x100 relay. Women – Latasha Essien, Seattle Pacific (Sr., Portland, OR), competing in her first GNAC outdoor championship meet, swept the 100 and 200 meters in times of 12.16 and 25.23 to account for 20 of the Falcons' 224 points as SPU won its fourth team title and third in the last four meets. After setting a meet record in the prelims on Friday in the 100 with a time of 12.11, she won that event in 12.16 and also finished first in the 200 in a time of 25.23. Her 100 time ranks second in GNAC history and her 200 time ranks sixth. Essien won four indoor 60-meter titles in her career, but was competing in the outdoor for the first time. Injuries kept her out of the 2007 and 2008 meets and the 2009 meet was cancelled.